“Known devil is better than the unknown devil.”

This has been told to us since we were kids, but is it really true?

Before we try to answer this question, I have another question for you. How do you know that the unknown person is the devil?

Think about it.

In assuming that the unknown is the devil, have you let your angle go by you? Has the best thing about to happen in your life walked by you because in thinking it to be the devil you decided to ignore it instead of grabbing it and holding on to it? Think of the missed opportunities that (you lost) could have led to bigger gains had you (tried to) had the courage to take them on and not dismissed them as unknown devils.

When you are in your 50s or 60s and you look back on your life and say I wish I had taken that opportunity then things would be different. Regret leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The wasted chances, the lost opportunities will come back to haunt you one day.

Have you started wondering what I am trying to tell you here or have you figured it out?

I am telling you to take risk. You can’t go very far in life without taking risk. I am not saying that all risks will payoff but at least you will not later in life say or feel “I wish I had done things differently”.

A healthy fear of the unknown is good but don’t let it drive your thoughts thus restricting your actions. Before stepping into the unknown think about what could happen, plan for contingencies (you can’t plan for all or even know all that you will come across while travelling the unknown, but some, definitely) and try to have your safety net in place. You definitely do not need to go head first into it but don’t completely dismiss it too.

I would like to end with the lines from Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken

I shall be telling this with a sign

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood and I

I took the one less travelled by

And that has made all the difference

Shalini